In 2024, the once-in-a-century changes sweep across the world, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation continues to advance, and the industry development has entered a new cycle - a period of deep adjustment, against the background of the overall slowdown of global economic growth and major changes in China's real estate and infrastructure investment: from the stage of rapid growth in quantity to a new growth stage - the stage of high-quality development.
1. The state government points out the direction for the development of the aggregates industry — comprehensively transforms and upgrades towards green development.
The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued the "Opinions on Accelerating the Comprehensive Green Transformation of Economic and Social Development". The document involves the production capacity scale and layout of the sand and gravel industry, the update of advanced process and equipment technology for green energy conservation and environmental protection, the development of green and intelligent industries, green transportation, comprehensive utilization of C&D wastes, slag, and waste rock, promotion of advanced applicable technologies, and the construction of a green and low-carbon standard system, which points out the direction for the green and low-carbon transformation and upgrading of China's sand and gravel, aggregates industry. The Central Economic Work Conference held in Beijing from December 11 to 12 proposed that in 2025, the "involutionary" competition or rat race should be comprehensively rectified, and the behavior of local governments and enterprises should be standardized; digital technology and green technology should be actively used to transform and upgrade traditional industries. The "Notice on Further Strengthening the Construction of Green Mines" issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources and other seven departments clarified the direction, specific goals and paths, guarantee measures and supervision and assessment mechanisms for the construction of green mines in the sand and gravel industry.
2. The new Mineral Resources Law starts to come into effect from July 1, 2025.
This is the first major revision of the Mineral Resources Law since its promulgation and implementation in 1986. It has far-reaching impacts on the rational development and utilization of mineral resources such as sand and gravel, strengthening the protection of mineral resources and ecological environment such as sand and gravel, safeguarding the rights and interests of the state owner of mineral resources such as sand and gravel and the legitimate rights and interests of mining rights holders, promoting high-quality development of the mining industry, ensuring the safety of national mineral resources, and adapting to the needs of building a modern socialist country in an all-round way.
3. The Ministry of Natural Resources strictly manages the disposal of sand and gravel during ecological restoration.
The General Office of the Ministry of Natural Resources issued the "Notice on Strictly Adhering to the Bottom Line of Soil and Stone Utilization Policy and Further Improving Incentive Measures for Mine Ecological Restoration", which clearly put forward 12 bottom lines for the use of sand and gravel to ensure that the ecological restoration of mines is carried out in a standardized and orderly manner, which will help solve the impact of illegal mining and sales of sand and gravel on the market in recent years. The sand and gravel industry has unique advantages in mine ecological restoration. Standardizing the use of soil and stone materials is conducive to promoting the sound mutual promotion of mine ecological restoration and the sand and gravel industry development. Among the 15 typical cases of mine ecological restoration released by the Ministry of Natural Resources, the ecological restoration case of Qingshan Stone Mine of Zhejiang Huzhou Xinkaiyuan Crushed Stone Co., Ltd., a leading enterprise in the sand and gravel industry, was selected. The release of this typical case once again shows that mine ecological restoration is an important part of the ecological restoration of the national land space, and is an important part of building green mines. It plays an important role in promoting the green transformation and high-quality development of the mining industry.
4. The Implementation Measures for the Regulations on Sand Mining in the Yangtze River (2024) has been implemented since January 1, 2025.
The Implementation Measures are of great significance for the meticulous and accurate implementation of the Regulations on Sand Mining in the Yangtze River. They will provide legal and practical support for the management of river sand mining across the country, and have a far-reaching impact on the standardization of river sand mining management in our country. In particular, under the current background of an overall oversupply of sand and gravel in China, the orderly mining of river sand resources will contribute to the healthy development of the manufactured sand and gravel industry. At the same time, the Ministry of Water Resources has deployed a special rectification campaign for river sand mining in the Yangtze River Basin, and the issuance of The Administrative Penalty Discretion Benchmark for Sand Mining Management in Key River Sections of the Yangtze River Provincial Boundary has greatly cracked down on illegal sand mining in the Yangtze River Basin, greatly increased the cost of illegal sand mining, further standardized the management of sand mining and transportation in the Yangtze River, and effectively guaranteed the survival space of legal and compliant sand and gravel enterprises. The Yangtze River has always been a pilot area for river management in China, and its mature experience will be promoted to the whole country. Relevant regulations and practices deserve attention.
5. Two major conferencesevents in the sand and gravel industry were successfully held.
The 11th National Aggregates Industry Science and Technology Conference and the 9th China International Aggregates Conference were successfully held. During the conference, 3 seminars, 6 forums, and 1 theme salon were held; 2 sand and gravel aggregate technology and equipment exhibitions, 1 national sand and gravel industry painting and calligraphy photography exhibition, 1 national sand and gravel aggregate competition, and 1 annual meeting were held. About a thousand people attended each conference. The "Chinese Plan" was proposed by the leader of the conference organizer, Hu Youyi, President of the China Aggregates Association, to promote the sustainable and high-quality development of the aggregates industry was highly recognized by attendees. At the 2024 China Aggregates Association Annual Conference with the theme of "Firm Confidence, Face Challenges, Forge Ahead, and Seek Progress in Stability", Hu Youyi pointed out the challenges and opportunities of the aggregates industry under the new situation and pointed out the direction for the development of the industry.
6. The construction of the aggregates industry standard system is becoming more complete.
The recommended national standard "General Principles for Green Mine Evaluation" was approved and will be implemented on February 1, 2025. The mandatory national standard "Design Specifications for Manufactured Sand and Gravel Aggregate Plants" was partially revised. Four group standards including "Technical Specifications for Application of Waste Concrete Recycled Sand Powder" were officially released and has been implemented since April 17, 2024. The recommended industry standard "Electric Furnace Nickel-Iron Slag Sand for Concrete and Mortar" was approved and will be implemented on July 1, 2025. The recommended industry standard "Technical Specifications for Application of Manufactured Sand in Highway Engineering" for highway engineering was released and will be implemented from March 1, 2025. The industry standard "Mineral Geological Exploration Specifications for Marine Sand" was released and has been implemented from October 1, 2024. The national occupational standard "Aggregates Production Worker", "Technical Specifications for Manufactured Sand and Gravel Production" and other two industry standards, and "Technical Specifications for Washing Sand and Fine Sand Recovery Process Requirements and Indicators" and other eight group standards are steadily advancing. "Technical Specifications for Marine Sand Component Analysis" was shortlisted in the national standard project plan.
7. Leading the development of new quality productivity in the sand and gravel industry with technological innovation
Key products and services such as manufactured sand and digital machine-made sand and gravel production equipment were selected into the "Industrial Strategic Emerging Industries Classification Catalog (2023)"; equipment and process technologies such as the development of comprehensive utilization technology and equipment for solid waste and construction waste were included in the "Guidelines for Industrial Structure Adjustment (2024 Edition)"; "An intelligent control system and control method for crushing and screening equipment" won the 25th China Patent Excellence Award; the intelligent complete set of machine-made sand and gravel technology development and "zero-employee" factory application demonstration project was selected into the fourth batch of major scientific and technological research projects in the national building materials industry... A number of scientific and technological innovation achievements in the field of sand and gravel and equipment are leading the vigorous development of the industry's new quality productivity.
8. Competition in the domestic aggregates market intensifies, and the China AggregatesAssociation helps enterprises "go global" and explore international markets
As China's aggregates and equipment market shrinks and expectations weaken, "involutionary" competition or rat race intensifies, the industry enters a period of deep adjustment period, and domestic companies gradually enter overseas markets in search of development opportunities. The China Aggregates Association organized domestic aggregate and equipment enterprises to participate in international aggregate exchanges and business inspections in Malaysia, Singapore and Argentina, and deeply participated in the division of labor and cooperation in the global aggregate and equipment industry; China's aggregate equipment enterprises made a high-profile appearance in the global engineering machinery industry in bauma CHINA 2024, and presents new technologies, new products and new concepts in an all-round way, reflecting that China's mature and leading sand and gravel equipment manufacturing companies are increasingly paying attention to international market share and accelerating their overseas market layout. According to the Global Aggregates Information Network(GAIN), the global aggregate production was around 40.2 billion tons in 2024, down 8.5% from 44 billion tons in 2019; it is difficult to see a significant recovery in the global aggregate market in the next three years.
9. The scale of production capacity of sand and gravel mining rights in various places is becoming more reasonable.
According to statistics from the China aggregates Association, in the first three quarters of 2024, various places reduced the release of small sand and gravel mining rights, reasonably control the transfer of super-large sand and gravel mining rights, and local governments reasonably plan the release of sand and gravel mining rights based on local resource endowments and surrounding market demand, which will help the healthy and orderly development of the sand and gravel aggregates industry. Among the newly established sand and gravel mining rights, the proportion of medium-sized sand and gravel mining rights with resource reserves of 1 million to 5 million tons increased to 31.4%, and the proportion of large-scale sand and gravel mining rights with resource reserves of 5 million to 10 million tons increased to 22.4%, both of which increased compared with 2023; super-large sand and gravel mining rights with resource reserves greater than 10 million tons accounted for 36.2%, and small sand and gravel mining rights with resource reserves below 1 million tons accounted for 10.1%. The proportion of super-large and small sand and gravel mining rights has decreased compared with 2023.
10. The largest mining license for aggregatesmining rights in China was issued.
Xishui County, Huanggang City, Hubei Province, issued the first mining license for the merger of two mining rights for the same ore body in Hubei Province - the granite and gneiss mine for construction in the Wolongan-Mafan mining area in Xishui County, Hubei Province. This is also the largest mining license for the merger of aggregates mining rights in China so far. The total reserves of aggregates resources after the merger are about 600 million tons, with a designed annual production scale of 40 million tons. This move by Xishui County, Huanggang City, provides a basis for open-pit mines across the country, which greatly shortens the time for mining enterprises to merge mining rights and reduces the cost of mergers, and is conducive to strengthening safety production from the source, promoting efficient use of resources and protecting the ecological environment, and is worthy of promotion across the country.
11. New members added to the green base for construction sand and gravel in the Beijing-surrounding area.
In order to reduce air pollution and strengthen sand and gravel supply in the Beijing-surrounding area and ensure construction projects in the capital, the Beijing Municipal Housing and Urban-Rural Development Commission issued the "Notice on the Announcement of the First Batch of Beijing Construction Sand and Gravel Green Bases in 2024", confirming Luanping County Weiyuan Mining Co., Ltd. and Longhua County Xincun Mining Co., Ltd. as Beijing Construction Sand and Gravel Green Bases. So far, with the previously announced Chengde Baotong Mining Co., Ltd., Qian'an Shoukuang Building Materials Co., Ltd., Luanping County Juyuan Mining Co., Ltd., and Chengde Wohua Zhujia Building Materials Co., Ltd., there are 6 currently effective green bases for construction sand and gravel in the Beijing-surrounding area. According to the requirements of relevant documents, the production and transportation of sand and gravel products in the green bases around Beijing must comply with the group standard of the China Aggregates Association "Green Production and Transportation Evaluation Standards for Sand and Gravel Aggregates".
12. The longest long rubber corridor dedicated to sand and gravel,aggregates in China has been built.
The Qichun project of China Power Construction Corporation produces 70 million tons of aggregates annually, and its long rubber corridor has a total length of about 39.5 kilometers. In order to protect the environment, the long rubber corridor spans 5 townships, crossing points including rivers, roads, national railways and other sensitive points. At the China Power Construction Green Sand and Gravel Brand Release and Central China and Yangtze River Basin Product Promotion Conference held in Qichun, Hubei, the first domestic aggregates brand "Green Aggregates" was unveiled, creating a "new era" of brand creation in the aggregates industry, which is of great significance to enhancing the core competitiveness of enterprises, promoting brand culture construction, enhancing market positioning and aggregates product identification, stabilizing customer groups, and safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of enterprises. The Green Aggregates High-Quality Development Research Center was established at the same time.
13. Help improve the quality of aggregates products and continue to promote the establishment of laboratories in aggregates industry.
The aggregates industry lacks specialized inspection and testing institutions for a long time. In order to promote the quality improvement of the machine-made sand and gravel industry, the China Aggregates Association encourages qualified aggregates and equipment companies to build laboratories in accordance with the standard "Basic Conditions for Laboratories of Machine-made Sand and Gravel Production Enterprises", establish product source monitoring and feedback mechanisms, control product indicators, and timely optimize and adjust equipment processes or technical parameters to improve the stability of aggregates quality. At present, more than 30 aggregates industry laboratories have passed certification.
14. Continue to strengthen the construction of the talent team
In view of the fact that there are no majors for sand and gravel aggregates industry in colleges and universities, and there are few relevant scientific research institutions in China, also the industry's talent training system is not sound, the China Aggregates Association and Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture jointly held “the 8th National Sand and Gravel Aggregate Industry Technical and Managerial Personnel Advanced Training Course” in Beijing, inviting more than ten well-known experts and scholars in the industry to conduct business training combining theoretical guidance with practical cases, current situation analysis with future prospects for enterprise technical and management personnel from upstream and downstream industries from all over the country. At the same time, the students were organize-d to visit Beijing Urban Construction Group for on-site teaching. Since its opening in 2017, the training course has cultivated more than 400 highly skilled and high-quality management and technical talents, further promoting the construction of the industry's talent team.